HEADLINE
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The St. Lawrence Seaway is poised to welcome commercial traffic this weekend as ice-clearing operations begin in earnest. The Montreal-Lake Ontario section opens at 8 a.m. Sunday, and the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Martha L. Black arrived in Montreal on Tuesday to lead the charge upriver, with a hovercraft supporting operations in the Beauharnois area. Already, three vessels have announced Seaway transits for the opening week: Federal Nagara heading to Detroit, Sakar bound for Johnstown, and Blacky destined for Toronto. Three more, the Groupe Ocean tug Grande Baie, chemical tanker Ek-River, and bulk carrier Theo G, are expected between March 22 and 29.
On Lake Superior, the Canadian Coast Guard Cutter Vincent Massey transited the MacArthur Lock at Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday morning, joining the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spar to prepare Whitefish Bay ahead of the commercial season at the Soo Locks. The 274-foot Massey, originally built in Sweden as an icebreaking supply vessel in 2000, was refit by Canada after her 2018 purchase.
Meanwhile, a draft issue sidelined the tanker Algocanada at Cleveland on March 10. Assisted by tugs Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania, she was towed to the Sunoco dock on the Cuyahoga River but could not secure a berth due to her draw. She departed for Nanticoke without unloading, joining the Algoberta already at Imperial Oil there.
Water levels remain robust across the basin: Lake Erie sits 1.74 feet above Low Water Datum at Cleveland, and Lake Ontario 1.63 feet above at Rochester. Wave heights are modest, with most lakes seeing 1-3 feet of chop through the weekend. As the season stirs back to life, efforts continue inland to restore lost ecosystems, Michigan’s arctic grayling, vanished nearly a century ago, may soon swim again in rehabilitated streams.
VESSEL_SPOTLIGHTMartha L. Black: Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker tasked with opening the St. Lawrence Seaway for the 2026 navigation season, departing Montreal this week to clear a passage upriver ahead of commercial traffic on Sunday.